Burning high into the sky: nearly 5.2 tonnes of cannabis destroyed

Since Wednesday, a taskforce of police harvested the cannabis and dumped it on an open area on the property.

The tedious task took close to three days to complete due to the large quantity.

With millions of dollars worth of cannabis out in the open, police spent the past few nights guarding the area.

The hydroponic greenhouse contained 8805 cannabis plants, according to Sergeant Peter Warden from Shepparton Divisional Tasking Unit.

The sheer amount meant the crop had to be separated into four piles which were then lit by a drip torch.

The marijuana burnt slowly throughout the day on Saturday, one stack at a time with CFA volunteers from Toolamba and Murchison keeping tabs on the fires.

They doused the dry grass around the area with water to avoid any spread and stood by with ultralight tanks and water pumps.

Flames shot as high as 5m, emitting a dense, black smoke that filled the late morning sky.

CFA District 22 commander Rohan Taylor said various safety precautions were in place during the destruction process.

“The drug activates at 300°C, which means if we’ve still got embers or coals or any burning product after, it still will be the active drug product burning,” he said.

“So, because there’s smoke involved, we’ve got to make sure our people are not actually standing downwind and that basically eliminates the risk of them being impacted by the by-products or the smoke of the fire.”

Heavy duty P2 masks prevented anyone from breathing in the smoke.